For the second time in just over a month, a bluefin tuna fishery has entered into assessment under the Marine Stewardship Council’s Fisheries Standard.
On Tuesday, 25 September, MSC announced that it’s evaluating a French fishery operating under the brand Thon Rouge de Ligne – Peche Artisanale. Last month, Japan’s Usufuku Honten Co. Ltd. became the first bluefin tuna fishery to seek MSC certification.
Thon Rouge is an artisanal longline and handline fishery that catches about 200 metric tons of Atlantic bluefin annually. The fishery is in season from April to December using boats smaller than 18 meters in length in the Western Mediterranean region of France’s exclusive economic zone.
Thon Rouge’s purse seine and Atlantic coast operations are not taking part in the assessment.
To earn MSC certification, Thon Rouge needs to prove the bluefin stock from which it fishes is healthy and that it has a sustainability strategy in place. The council also will evaluate the fishery’s overall management strategy and examine whether it minimizes bycatch. Control Union Pesca, an independent third-party auditor, will conduct the assessment review.
The two bluefin assessments come at a time when scientists for the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna cannot verify if the stock is overfished. Conservation groups also have been critical of the bluefin fishery overall, noting the endangerment status of the species.
Grantly Galland, a global tuna conservation officer for The Pew Charitable Trusts, said it’s too soon for any bluefin fishery to seek MSC certification.
“Uncertainty related to stock status, compounded with concerns about the population decline expected at current catch limits and the growing threat of newly identified illegal fishing activities, must be addressed on a broad geographic scale before any decision is made to label an Atlantic bluefin fishery as sustainable based on the MSC standard,” Galland said in a statement.
However, Edouard Le Bart, MSC France’s program director, said in a statement that bluefin tuna is “an emblematic species of the sustainable fisheries movement” and assessment will provide an objective determination of its sustainability.
“The evaluation according to the MSC Framework is a meticulous and transparent process in which all interested stakeholders can participate,” Le Bart said. “It allows all fisheries that wish to be examined with a magnifying glass on the sustainability of their practices and the effectiveness of their management.”
